I don’t like reading multi-page documents online.

I’m trying to be more environmentally responsible with the amount that I print, but like most people I scan rather than read online text.  With more than a few pages, or with complex topics, online information just doesn’t lodge in my brain in the same way.

But I know I could do better with my tree-consuming behavour.  So I was intrigued when I happened across FlipViewer.   I don’t know if more book-like (‘multimedia interactive’) software has existed for a while, but this was the first time I came across an e-book that really felt like reading a book.

The Lancet sent out an email that they’re currently offering a free e-book online, Darwin’s Gift.  The visuals are like real pages turning, and for me the experience is way more pleasant.  I also love the cover art.  There’s even audio of paper pages turning.  So I’m going to try again to do more big readings online.

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My next quest in improving my environmental behaviour:  an all-in-one printer that offers easy two-sided printing.

Any printer I’ve ever owned has pitiful functionality for two-sided printing.  The whole document prints out on one side first, and then  you have to manually feed the same pages back in again.  Every printer I’ve ever done this with either misses a sheet, or sucks in several pages at once, and the numbering of the pages ends up chaotic – pages missing, pages only partly-printed, and a real annoyance to try to find pages as you’re reading through a document.  Though at an office I almost always ensure I’ve selected two-sided printing, at home I’ve given up.  If anyone knows of an inexpensive small office/home all-in-one printer that does an excellent job of two-sided printer, I’d like to know.

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The free e-book is a promotion to bring in new subscribers to The Lancet, but you don’t have to subscribe to read the book.   I couldn’t find a way to download and read it offline, so from what I figure, you have to read it online.

This is an excerpt from the blurb (the links are mine):

Darwin’s Gift celebrates the bicentennial of Charles Darwin’s birth, and the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species. You’ll find essays about Darwin’s life and work, and the enduring legacy of his remarkable theory of evolution. These were Darwin’s gifts to all of us.

Looks like Bill Clinton has opened up his program to get people to commit to helping improve the world in whatever ways they can, to the larger development community and the public at large. The Clinton Global Initiative has launched ‘My Commitment‘.

The aim of website creators is to provide people with the resources to take action and make real change, locally and globally. They also aim to build community, to connect people with others who share the same vision for change and help them create networks to put plans into motion.

They offer tools for visitors to make commitments to act and track their progress and results, like a self-commitment pledge form (I’ve heard that people are more inclined to follow through once they put a commitment in writing, though that’s never had an effect either way for me). Other features include a database of volunteer opportunities, and ‘Commitment 101′ for those who want to do something to effect the world but don’t know where to begin. Perhaps best targeted to families/teachers, there’s 50 Ways to Change the World, that can be viewed from this page.

The Clinton Global Initiative is a project of the Clinton Foundation.

Clinton’s second book, GIVING: How Each of Us Can Change the World, features inspiring individuals and organizations taking innovative and unique approaches to solving some of the world’s biggest challenges. The book was released in September 2007.

The initiative seems, at least in part, like a global (and very well financed) version of changeeverything.

From the KM4DEV list, an interesting post from Urs Karl Egger, of Swiss Resource Centre and Consultancies for Development:

The Web 2.0 that connects so nicely people all over the world in an allegedly environmental friendly way seems to have a downside as well.

According to a newsletter of a Swiss IT magazine, the amount of data in the Internet doubles every four months. YouTube alone produces obviously as much traffic as the whole Internet two years ago. Not only all the home and office PC but also server farms need huge amounts of electricity. For Second Life alone 4000 servers are needed, and according to Nicolas Carr each avatar in Second Life needs more power than a real human being in Brasil. The production of electricity for the Internet produces reportedly more CO2 than the whole air traffic…

I haven’t done any digging on this myself yet to confirm the facts, but it would be interesting to hear what others think.

How much will you be willing to pay in Linden dollars for carbon offsets for running your avatar?

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